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Anyone Else Jazzed About the New Avengers Movie?

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shmokes:

--- Quote from: Rando on April 27, 2012, 12:25:32 pm ---Dude!
Characters have been dying and coming back for years, Superman just happened to make the news

--- End quote ---

Shrug . . . I'll stop pretending to be an expert on the subject since I don't, and never have read comics. Most of my knowledge comes from cartoons, films, word-of-mouth, etc. It seems to me, though, and maybe it's just from how well-publicized it was, that Superman started it (it being, if nothing else, the modern practice of death/resurrection in comics). This also appeals to my common sense, because any comic book publisher who saw how much money the Death of Superman issue generated obviously took notice. Even if it's true that death/resurrection has been common in comic books, I think you know that Superman changed the dynamic.

knave:
I think there's a bit of over-analysis going on. Superman represents fantasy, it's totally subjective. I loved him as a kid...but I also Loved Batman! Their was room for both in my toybox. What's wrong with enjoying a story where the hero is obviously dominant. Most stories also end with the hero winning...I was pretty young when I learned that pretty much all the shows I watched ended predictably...I still enjoyed them though.

I will go see Avengers, and will probably like it.

shmokes:

--- Quote from: knave on April 27, 2012, 01:10:19 pm ---What's wrong with enjoying a story where the hero is obviously dominant.

--- End quote ---

Because any story worth telling has conflict and resolution. And the greater the conflict, the more satisfying its resolution. Imagine a movie where a man is pitted against the mosquitoes in his house. And whenever he sees one he swats it. And then after a while they're all gone. Not very interesting. Now imagine that the mosquitoes have evolved and are now able to organize and be evil and create an actual threat. Now you've got a horror movie. It's probably still a bad movie because it's such a stupid premise, but you see how the threat changes things. It creates conflict. It matters.


Edit: A good example of this that I often use is Lara Croft vs. Indiana Jones. They're basically the same character, but Lara Croft is comparably boring to watch because she is effectively invincible. She runs into a room full of people shooting at her with absolutely no fear, oblivious to the bullets, as she does backflips off walls double-fisting her guns and picking off the bad guys one-by-one. Indiana Jones, on the other hand, is reckless, but very vulnerable. He gets beat up and brushes narrowly with death all the time. He frequently terrified. And because of this, his stories have genuine conflict and (with the exception of the ---smurfing--- retarded last one) because of this they are engaging.

Vigo:
Putting on my English lit. student hat here. Superman does have conflict. You can make the argument that it is obvious to you that the conflict will be resolved, but belief or disbelief is not necessarily where the entertainment value is. Conflict is a vehicle that gives the author something to write about, puts the character in a scenario. It in itself is not necessarily what makes a story good or bad.

The storytelling to get through the story arc is where the entertainment is. Are you really gonna believe that Batman is gonna die at any given issue? I doubt it, but you read it to see how the Joker tries to trump his abilities. As far as Lara Croft vs Indiana Jones...well Lara Croft is not boring to watch  ;D but her movies suck......and because they are poorly written and poorly directed and the acting is garbage and the premise is lame, just like your story of Bob vs a few mosquitos would be.    ;)

If you have ever seen My Neighbor Totoro, that movie is considered a masterpiece. It honestly has about as shallow of a conflict as you can get. Some kid runs down the wrong path trying to give her mom corn and her sister finds her 5 minutes later in the film. That's the entire conflict in the film. The rest is storytelling.

knave:
Sometimes a story is entertaining on its own merit not because of conflict.

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